Fall in net migration to be welcomed

The first fall in net migration into the UK since 2008 is good news.

Official statistics from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that estimated net migration in the UK fell to 216,000 in the year to December 2011, from 252,000 in the year to December 2010, as a raft of recent reforms to the immigration system start to bite.

For the year to June 2012 the number of student visas issued has decreased by 30 per cent compared to the year before.

Immigration is a very important issue for people in Harlow. I know that local people were deeply frustrated about the chaos which was the hallmark of our immigration system for too long.

For years under Labour immigration was uncontrolled. Net migration to Britain reached more than 2.2 million people - more than twice the population of Birmingham. The system was broken and nothing was being done to fix it.

We now have a Government which is doing what is needed to bring immigration under control.

All the routes of entry into the UK are being tightened up. Economic migration has been capped, bogus students are being turned away, and the rules on family migration are being made more robust.

We are now seeing the impact of this. Immigration is still too high but we now have a government which is determined to bring it down to sustainable levels in the tens of thousands.

For the 12 months to June 2012, the latest period for which stats are available, the overall number of visas issued fell by 16 per cent to the lowest 12 month total for which comparable data is available.

Over the same period the number of visit visas increased by 3 per cent - demonstrating that we can control long term net migration while continuing to attract tourists and stimulate growth.